arXiv:2511.04108cs.CL2025-11

批量提示能有效抑制大模型推理时的过度思考,提升效率与可靠性。

Batch Prompting Suppresses Overthinking Reasoning Under Constraint: How Batch Prompting Suppresses Overthinking in Reasoning Models

  • 通过批量处理多个查询共享上下文,降低单个任务的推理负担。
  • 平均减少76%的推理令牌(2950→710),且准确率不降反升。
  • 适合需要高效稳定推理的部署场景,无需修改模型结构。

大型推理模型虽通过显式思维链实现优异性能,却普遍存在‘过度思考’问题:对简单任务生成大量推理内容。这不仅增加成本,还可能导致模型陷入自我怀疑的循环,耗尽令牌预算却无法输出答案,引发API超时,直接影响准确率。本文实证发现,原本用于提升吞吐量的批量提示(batch prompting)在推理阶段可有效抑制过度思考。在13个不同基准测试中,使用DeepSeek-R1和OpenAI-o1模型,批量提示使推理令牌平均减少76%(从2,950降至710),同时保持或提升准确率。行为分析显示,批处理带来三重益处:(1)多任务共享上下文后,单个查询的推理努力下降;(2)促进模式归纳,使模型从前期样本中学习并解决后续问题;(3)抑制‘等待’‘再检查’等元认知表达,减少自我怀疑行为。此外,显式提示约束(如‘思考不超过100令牌’)无效,模型要么无视,要么牺牲准确率。该研究重新定义批量提示:不仅是成本优化手段,更是无需模型修改即可提升推理效率与可靠性的实用技术。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Large Reasoning Models (LRMs) achieve strong performance through explicit chain-of-thought reasoning but suffer from \textit{overthinking}: generating excessive reasoning tokens even for trivial queries. {Beyond inflating cost, overthinking can be self-defeating: models enter recursive self-doubt loops that exhaust token budgets without producing an answer, causing API timeouts that directly hurt accuracy.} We present an empirical study showing that \textbf{batch prompting}, originally introduced for throughput optimization, effectively suppresses overthinking at inference time. Across 13 diverse benchmarks with DeepSeek-R1 and OpenAI-o1, batch prompting {reduces reasoning tokens by 76\% (2{,}950$\mapsto$710), on average, while preserving or improving accuracy}. Through behavioral analysis, we find that batching induces three beneficial effects: (1) it reduces per-query reasoning effort when multiple queries share a context; (2) it enables pattern induction, where models generalize from earlier examples to solve later ones; and (3) it suppresses hedging behavior (e.g., ``\texttt{wait,}'' ``\texttt{let me double-check}'') that signals metacognitive loops. We also show that explicit prompt constraints (``\texttt{Use no more than 100 tokens in thinking.}'') fail to reduce overthinking; models either ignore them or sacrifice accuracy. These findings reframe batch prompting as more than a cost optimization: it is a practical inference-time technique that improves efficiency and reliability without model modification.

推理优化批量提示模型效率

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